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Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread: Feeding the 5000, relief on the door of the Grossmünster, Zurich, Switzerland. |
Pope Leo XIV has condemned the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and the “indiscriminate use of force” as Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 93 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food and Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people. —The Guardian, July 20, 2025
Give us this day our daily dose
of violence and war
hunger and strife
that we may see clearly
how the people in charge
truly view others, treat others,
casting their nets
not for sustenance
but to trap us all
in their ill-imagined world,
how our struggle to untangle the truth
is worthy and righteous.
Bake the bread of this poem
with sunflower seeds and sifted powder
yogurt, eggs and oil,
with love, hope,
virtue and decency.
May it counteract the poisonous actions
of mad governments
as they seek their ends with any means
trampling on innocents
born in an unfortunate place
living in a fraught time
caught in an ancient conflict,
whose only crime
is a desire to preserve themselves
with the staff of life.
Karen Warinsky has published poetry widely since 2011. She is the author of four collections: Gold in Autumn (2020) and Sunrise Ruby (2022 Human Error Publishing,) Dining with War (2023 Alien Buddha Press) and Beauty & Ashes (Kelsay Books, 2025). Her poem “Mirage” won first place in the 2024 Ekphrastic Poetry Trust, she is a 2023 Best of the Net nominee and a former finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Contest. Warinsky coordinates Poets at Large, a group that performs spoken word in MA and CT.
